Chicora native achieving lifelong dream of becoming a teacher
A decade after earning a bachelor’s degree, a Slippery Rock University graduate student and Chicora native is resuming a career path in education.
Natalie Goodman, a secondary education major from Chicora, is becoming a teacher after becoming a mother of four.
Goodman is in her final semester of SRU's Master of Education program, earning certifications in math and science. She is already contributing to the lives of students in the community as a student teacher in the Karns City Area School District.
Goodman said her greatest value as a teacher is to be someone who cares about and supports students in more than just their educational journeys.
“I want to be that consistent adult in a kid's life where they say, 'I can show up to school and I'm going to be welcomed and loved here,’” Goodman said. “’Even if I'm not loved elsewhere, I know in Mrs. Goodman's room, I'm meant to be here.'”
Goodman's desire to be a teacher was inspired by the support she received from her teachers as a child.
“They would kind of take me under their own wing,” she said. “I always felt like I was loved by my teachers. They always made me feel like I was welcome. I wasn't just there to take a test and learn something new. They cared about me as a person.”
Goodman has seen the way that support changes a classroom for the better during her time student teaching and before that, working as a substitute teacher.
“There was one kid that would always give me issues if I was in his classroom,” she said. “Then I got to sub as a co-teacher for someone else and I got to see another teacher interact with that same student. and it was mind-blowing to me.
“He went to her, something had happened in his personal life that he was concerned about and before class even started, he went to her and she just discussed it with him. His behavior in that class was so different from anything I'd ever experienced.”
Goodman asked the teacher about the encounter and she was told it took time and years of building that relationship with the student.
Goodman is always excited to see those interactions. She emphasized the experiences build on the reason she wants to be a teacher.
“It changes the entire environment of the classroom just building a relationship with those kids,” Goodman said.
Goodman did not work as a teacher after getting her bachelor's degree in education at an out-of-state school and she did not get her teaching certificate. She got married and started raising children two years after graduating.
“I started a family very young and my focus was just then on being a mom,” Goodman said.
Still, she wanted to become a teacher.
When Goodman's four children were older, she began substitute teaching and realized how much she still loved the profession.
“I really loved being with kids of all ages,” Goodman said. “It's fun connecting with them and building relationships with them, especially kids you can tell maybe get in trouble a lot or don't fit in very well.”
